Today I had the privilege to serve on an ordination council for William Dudding III, pastor at Mission Peak Baptist Church in Fremont. 
He did well and we were happy to recommend him to his church for ordination. During the questioning one of my fellow council members asked a question that I have been pondering….so here it is…
Genesis 3:8-13 in the NASB says…
8They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The question posed is this…
Why does God ask questions?
Now, think about it… Does God really not know the answer to the questions? Is He relying on our truthfulness to give Him the facts because He can’t tell the future? Is God so helpless that He must come to us for knowledge? Well, no. God is omniscient – He knows everything. Not only that, He tells us in His Word that He ordained everything before the world was created. In other words, He knows what is going on and what will take place, what we are thinking and what is true. So, why would He waste His time (at least from a human perspective) to ask us a question when He already knows the answer?
Here is a clue from the book of proverbs…
5 A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water,
But a man of understanding draws it out. (Prov. 20:5)
How can I know what is in a man’s heart? A man of understanding draws it out…but how? One answer is “by asking questions that reveal what is resident inside the heart of man.
How do you seek to know someone? One way is to ask questions…to draw out from them what is truly going on in their heart.
Now, the reality is that we already know what I have just said. So we salve our consciences by asking gentle questions: “How is your day going?”, “How is the family?”, “Are you still swinging the clubs?”… Yes, these questions get you somewhere, but they don’t get you far. They help keep our relationships at that superficial level and they won’t do much to produce a greater depth in our relationships…
How about asking some more penetrating questions like…
- Tell me what God has been teaching you in your quiet time today?
- What specific trial, sin or struggle can I pray with you about?
- What attribute of God have you been strengthened by recently?
I am sure that you can come up with some better questions…but maybe the question at this point should be…
Do we really care about the answers to those questions? Do we care what is in man’s heart? Or are we simply satisfied with the superficial? Maybe we just don’t want to “go there” because we have our agendas and schedules – getting to know someone…to really know them just takes too much time!
God, on the other hand, truly cares and really wants us to tell him what is in our hearts… He doesn’t play games with us…
So, maybe we should pay attention when God asks us questions — and then, in pure honesty answer Him, knowing that He already knows and only wants us to reveal what is in our hearts truthfully and trustingly.
Filed under: Theology
Loved this post, Rod. This concept has transformed my parenting as well. Reaching the heart takes so much more diligence, but is so worth the effort. A great reminder today…thanks! Tell Elia hello for me.
Love it! Spoken like a true biblical counselor
Wow. Lots to think about. Thank you for making me examine my walk and what I should really be talking to God about.